Making a resume early in your career feels like a classic catch-22: A good resume highlights relevant work experience, which you don’t get until you land a job.
The truth is you don’t always need professional experience for entry-level jobs. By highlighting your existing skills, coursework and extracurricular activities, you can craft a resume that will impress employers — even without work experience.
How to Write a Resume With No Experience
- Choose the right resume format
- Write a professional summary
- Emphasize your education
- Include relevant experience like internships, volunteering, extracurriculars and projects
- Highlight your accomplishments
- Showcase transferable skills and soft skills
- Optimize for ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems)
- Proofread and edit for impact
Even if you don’t meet all the requirements in a job description, there are still ways to write a resume that catches a company’s eye. First, choose a resume template (word processors like Google Docs and Microsoft Word have resume templates to guide you with a general structure). From there, you can fill in the details by following the tips below.
Choose the Right Resume Format
If you have no previous work experience, the right resume format can help emphasize your professional strengths to help you land a job. Below are two common resume formats that can be effective for those who are just beginning their career:
1. Functional Resume
A functional resume focuses on your skills rather than work history, making it ideal for students, career changers or those with no formal work experience.
Pros:
- Emphasizes transferable skills
- Minimizes focus on work history
- Ideal for highlighting projects or volunteer experience
Cons:
- Less familiar or common format to some employers
- May raise additional questions if not presented professionally
2. Combination (Hybrid) Resume
A combination or hybrid resume highlights both your skills and any relevant work experience, such as internships or part-time work.
Pros:
- Highlights both skills and experience where possible
- Flexible for tailoring to jobs
- Allows you to show some work history
Cons:
- Can be more difficult to structure
- Can look unorganized if not structured well
Write a Professional Summary
Although career coaches have mixed opinions on including a short professional summary at the top of your resume, Lesa Edwards, founder of Exclusive Career Coaching and the former director of the career center at Truman State University, likes them because they can set the stage and contextualize the experiences that follow. They also allow you to set yourself apart in a large stack of resumes.
If you decide to include a professional summary, ask yourself: What do I bring to the table? What soft skills could I transfer over to this role? What do I have that other candidates don’t have? If written well, this two-to-three-sentence summary could encourage recruiters and hiring managers to take a closer look at your resume and cover letter.
Emphasize Your Education
If you recently graduated from college, put your education experience as one of the first headers on your resume. List your major, any academic honors and your GPA (if it is 3.5 or higher). The education section of your resume can also include a subsection for industry-relevant certifications. As your career progresses, you can bump your education section further down the resume to make room for more relevant professional experiences.
Add Internships, Volunteering, Activities and Projects
Instead of focusing on the requirements you don’t meet, think about any transferable skills or experiences you might have gained from internships, extracurricular activities, part-time jobs, volunteering or school projects.
Jill Silman Chapman, director of early talent programs at Insperity, said she favors candidates who have a well-rounded set of experiences. It shows they are able to multitask, work in different types of environments and adapt to changing circumstances.
“In today’s workplace, we’re changing all the time,” she said. “That ability to adapt is critical.”
Internships
Internships are the best way to gain relevant work experience before entering the professional world. They offer an opportunity to apply the lessons you’ve learned in the classroom in real-world situations.
Part-Time Jobs
If you worked in a service industry job and you are seeking your first professional job after college, you could highlight soft skills, like time management skills needed to juggle school and work responsibilities. Customer service is an especially underrated skill, Silman Chapman said, because it translates to customer-facing roles and interpersonal skills within the workplace.
Even unpaid part-time experiences — like petsitting or lawn-mowing — can be used to present professional skills and your capacity for responsibility.
Extracurricular Activities
This could include student government, fraternities and sororities or any number of campus organizations or community activities. Athletics is also a resume booster in some industries, especially sales and other professions that tap into a competitive spirit. You might also note if you were an Eagle Scout, helped out at a peer tutoring program or volunteered your time in other ways that show you are engaged in your community.
Class Projects
Projects you worked on as part of a class or online certification program can also be incorporated into your resume. This could include your marketing class working on a semester-long campaign that culminated in a big presentation. If your class partnered with a company on a large project, that could be a relevant real-world experience for your resume.
Certificates or Online Courses
Certification programs or online courses are also a good way to gain professional experience, and often provide a chance to apply your learnings to a project, which can then be highlighted on your resume, said Karen Scully-Clemmons, assistant director of career services and employer relations at the University of Texas at Austin. You’ll want to detail what you accomplished, what technologies you used and what you learned. If possible, you should also link to your project on your resume.
Highlight Your Accomplishments
For each experience you list, showcase the results in bullet point format, and look for ways to quantify your results. For example, don’t just rattle off what you did as president of a school organization, highlight how many new members joined during your tenure or how much money you raised while leading fundraising efforts.
These accomplishments don’t need to be groundbreaking, but you might have to reflect deeply and think creatively to recognize and articulate the value you provided in each role. Just be sure to align these accomplishments with the responsibilities in the job description.
“Sometimes I think the hardest thing for students is to think of an achievement, because they think it has to be a super big deal,” Edwards said. “So much of it is a shift in mindset of what constitutes an achievement.”
Showcase Transferable Skills and Soft Skills
For a skills section, you can include your software proficiencies, as well as soft skills like organization, time management, communication, adaptability to change and the ability to work as part of a team. If you are going to highlight your interpersonal skills, though, you should also include evidence of a role or situation in which you demonstrated those skills.
“It may not be numbers, dollars or percentages,” Edwards said, “but maybe you could talk about how you took a leadership role in a class project that was presented to a community organization.”
Optimize for ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems)
Many companies use applicant tracking system (ATS) software to scan and filter resumes before it gets seen by a human. Even with no work experience you can optimize your resume to pass ATS checks by focusing on structure, keywords and clarity. Just follow these three tips:
1. Use Keywords from the Job Description
Read the job description you are applying for and include relevant terms in your resume — especially skills, qualifications and software tools. For example, if the job mentions specific skills like “customer service” or “Microsoft Word,” make those words appear naturally in your resume.
2. Stick to a Simple, Clean Format
Avoid images, tables or graphics that ATS software may not read properly. Use standard section headers like “Education,” “Projects” and “Skills.”
3. Use Standard File Formats
Ensure your resume is in a PDF or .docx file format, depending on what the job posting specifies. These formats are ATS-friendly.
Proofread and Edit for Impact
Regardless of experience, a polished, error-free resume can make a strong impression in the job application process. Proofreading and editing help ensure your resume is clear, professional and relevant to the job. This involves doing the following:
- Check for spelling and grammar errors
- Keep language clear, concise and professional
- Tailor your resume to the job and role description
- Reread it and get second opinions if needed
Sample Template of Resume With No Experience
To get started, here is a sample template of what a resume with no job experience can look like:
How to Use AI to Write a Resume With No Experience
Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and others can be powerful resources when creating a resume, especially if you are starting from scratch or have no formal job experience. Using artificial intelligence can help you organize your thoughts, maintain a professional tone and ensure your resume aligns with the job you’re applying for. Here’s how:
1. Use a Clear, Specific Prompt
Tell the AI specifically what you want your resume to look like, including details like skills, volunteer experience, projects and extracurriculars where applicable. Start off with a prompt like:
“I’m a recent high school graduate with no work experience applying for a restaurant job. Help me write a resume.”
And go from there.
2. Highlight Transferable Skills
AI can help identify and describe soft skills or abilities you have gained from school, extracurriculars, sports, clubs or volunteer activities — like time management, leadership, problem-solving or teamwork. Provide the experiences you’ve had to the AI and ask it to generate relevant skills that you have based off of them.
3. Generate Resume Sections
Ask AI to help draft key sections of your resume, including:
- A professional summary
- An education section
- A section for any previous volunteer or project experience
- A skills section
4. Tailor the Resume to Specific Jobs
Paste the job description for the role you’re applying for into the AI prompt and ask it to match your resume to the required skills. This can help ensure your resume aligns with what an employer is looking for in a candidate.
What Not to Include in a Resume With No Experience
You only have so much space on your resume, so be sure to leave off these unnecessary details.
1. Objective Statement
Don’t include an “objective” statement that lays out what you are looking for in a job. Instead of talking about what you want, use that space to describe what value you can offer the employer.
2. Hobbies and Interests
While you might think a job is related to your hobbies and interests, Edwards said these are of little practical interest to recruiters and hiring managers. Leave them out of your resume.
3. Low GPA
A GPA below 3.5 is not likely to win over a company, and a GPA below 3.0 could only hurt your chances. Only include your GPA if it’s above 3.5 on a 4.0 scale.
4. Headshot or Photo of Yourself
Recruiters and hiring managers don’t need or want to see what you look like. Unless you are applying for an acting job, don’t attach a picture to your resume because it could be potentially used to discriminate against you.
5. Your Full Address
In the electronic age, there is no need to put your address on your resume. Providing your city and state is typically enough, unless an online application requires your full address.
6. Graphics, Images or Special Fonts
Don’t use resume templates with fancy graphics. Most companies use applicant tracking systems (ATS), which can’t read resumes that are decorated with graphics, special fonts, columns and other formatting tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
What can I put on my resume if I have no experience?
In lieu of professional experience, you could highlight your education, skills, internships, extracurricular activities, part-time jobs, volunteering experiences and school projects.
How to write a professional summary for a resume with no experience?
A well-written professional summary will draw upon the experience you’ve gained from school, internships and other extracurricular activities to demonstrate the impact you have made and the value you would bring to your desired role.
How do you say you have no experience but are willing to learn?
Employers are often willing to train entry-level candidates who have shown initiative and a hard work ethic in school, internships and extracurricular activities. You can emphasize your willingness to learn through your professional summary statement on the top of your resume or through the cover letter that accompanies the resume.
Do I need a resume if I don't have experience?
Yes, you need a resume when applying for a job, regardless of your experience. Most word processors, like Google Docs and Microsoft Word, offer free resume templates to get you started.
Is it bad to have no work experience on a resume?
Having no work experience on a resume isn’t a bad thing, especially for entry-level roles. But be sure to include any internships, part-time jobs, volunteer projects, extracurriculars and other relevant experiences to make up for a lack of work experience.
